People

Denis joined the lab in February 2014 and started work building up our nanowire sensing project. Later he took the lead on our scanning nano-SQUID efforts, establishing the fabrication and use of SQUID-on-tip sensors in our group. After 4 years in the group, he took a position at the Federal Institute of Metrology (METAS) in Bern, Switzerland. In early 2020, Denis moved to Nanosurf in Liestal, Switzerland.

Hari started work in our lab in August 2011. After more than 2 years in our group, working on transport and nanomechanics experiments on nanowires, Hari took a post doctoral position at the London Centre for Nanotechnology in mid-2014. Since late 2015, Hari is a Senior R&D Engineer at Seagate Technology in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

Fei started in the lab as our first post-doc in December 2009. After crucial work helping to build our group and 3 years of research, in late 2013 Fei took a position as Principal Investigator at the High Magnetic Field Laboratory (HMFL) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Hefei, China. During his time in the Poggio Lab, he worked mostly on magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM) and cantilever magnetometry.

David joined our lab as an intern in October 2017, after doing Masters thesis in the Maletinsky group here in the Department of Physics at the University of Basel.  In January of 2018, he joined as a Ph.D. student. In our group, he worked on optomechanics with the two-dimensional material hexagonal boron nitride (hBN).  He graduated in September 2023 and is staying on to conclude on-going experiments.

Hinrich joined the group in January of 2018, after doing his Masters thesis in the Degen group (ETHZ). In Basel, he worked on developing nanowire-based magnetic force microscopy and was the first to apply the technique to investigate 2D materials. He graduated in June 2023 and is staying on to conclude on-going experiments.

Giulio joined the group as a Ph.D. student in February 2017 to work on scanning SQUID microscopy of skyrmion-hosting materials. He was a member of our Nanoskyrmionics Sinergia collaboration, carrying out real-space magnetic imaging experiments of a chiral magnet. He worked on developing and improving our fabrication of SQUID-on-tip sensors, as well as on their application for imaging non-colinear magnetic phases. He graduated in June 2022 and stayed on to conclude on-going experiments until the end of August 2023, after which he started a position at Zurich Instruments, in Zürich, Switzerland.

Simon joined the group as a Ph.D. student in February 2017 to work on dynamic cantilever magnetometry (DCM) of nanometer-scale magnetic materials. He was a key member of our Nanoskyrmionics Sinergia collaboration and carried out experiments on a number of interesting samples, including GaV₄Se₈, magnetic mesocrystals, and magnetic Janus particles. He helped deepen our understanding of how to use DCM to identify magnetic phase transitions and how to understand model the response of paramagnets and superparamagnets. He graduated in May 2022 and in July 2022 started in a research position at the Fraunhofer-Institüt für Werkstroffmechanik (IWM) in Freiburg, Germany.

Thibaud joined the lab as a Ph.D. student in January 2016 to work with Dr. Floris Braakman on his Ambizione research project on optomechanics and hybrid systems. As the first student working on this project, he built up a complex optomechanical system from scratch including a unique high-finesse fiber-optic cavity and carried out first experiments with it. He graduated in November 2021. After his Ph.D., Thibuad continued in the group as a post-doctoral researcher. From July to September 2022, he took a post-doctoral position in the group of Prof. Richard Warburton on a joint project with our group. In mid-October 2022, he started work at CSEM in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

Lorenzo joined the lab as a Ph.D. student in January 2016 to work on the development and application of scanning SQUID-on-tip sensors. He was the first student to work on this project full time and carried out our first two experiments using this technique. The first was show the presence of flux-closure configurations in individual ferromagnetic nanotubes. The second investigated superconducting vortex dynamics and pinning in an amorphous superconducting film of MoSi. He graduated in May 2020. Immediately following his Ph.D., Lorenzo continued in the group as a post-doctoral researcher until July 2021. He then took a job working on AFMs at Nanosurf in Liestal, Switzerland.

Nicola Rossi started as a Ph.D. student in June 2014 with the support of our ERC Starting Grant on using nanowires (NWs) as sensitive scanning probes. Nicola was the first to demonstrate a new type of atomic force microscope (AFM) using NWs as tiny sensors. Unlike standard AFM, the NW-based technique enables measurements of both the size and direction of forces. He later showed that magnet-tipped NWs can be used for imaging extremely weak magnetic field patterns on the nanometer-scale, as required for mapping mesoscopic transport and spin textures or in nanometer-scale magnetic resonance. He graduated in July 2019. Immediately following his Ph.D., Nicola continued in the group as a post-doctoral researcher until October 2020. He then started work at AMS in Rüschlikon, Switzerland.

Marcus started as a Ph.D. student in April of 2014 after completing a Masters degree under Prof. Laura Heyderman at the Paul Scherrer Institute. He pursued a number of nano-magnetic imaging projects including x-ray magnetic circular dichroism photoemission electron microscopy (XMCD-PEEM) experiments at PSI and scanning SQUID microscopy (SSM) experiments in our own lab. He was the first Ph.D. student to work on fabricating up and using SQUID-on-tip sensors in our lab. He later used both XMCD-PEEM and SSM to study ferromagnetic nanotubes, SSM to study artificial spin ice, and finally worked on a new design for SQUID-on-tip sensors for the next generation of SSM. He graduated in November 2018 and worked as a post-doc in our group until June 2021. He then took a job as an electron microscopy technician and researcher at the Nano Imaging Lab of the Swiss Nanoscience Institute, just down the street.

Davide started as a Ph.D. student in May of 2013 with the support of the SNI Ph.D. Program. He was the first Ph.D. student in our lab to start working on nanowires (NWs) as scanning probe sensors. After building up a new microscope, Davide started studying nonlinear mechanical effects in NWs. He later collaborated with the Warburton Group on several projects involving quantum dots embedded in photonic NWs. This work ultimately led to the realization of a fiber-coupled QD and the proof-of-principle demonstration of scanning electric field microscope based on an optically-addressable QD. He graduated in March 2018. After graduation, Davide stayed on as a post-doc until the end of 2018. He then started work at Rolic Technologies Ltd. in Allschwil, Switzerland in January 2019.

Ben started as a Ph.D. student in early of 2012, after completing his Masters degree with us. From the beginning, he worked on magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM), becoming an expert in all of its aspects, including preparing samples, producing ‘microwires’, aligning the microscope, programming complex pulse sequences, and designing measurement protocols. Ben was particularly successful investigating the transition between regimes dominated by thermal and statistical polarization in nanometer-scale ensembles of nuclear spins. He graduated in June 2017. After graduation, Ben started work teaching science and mathematics in the Basel school system. In early 2020, Ben moved to the Federal Institute of Metrology (METAS) in Bern, Switzerland.

Having completed her Masters project in our group, Andrea joined the lab as a Ph.D. student in September 2012. After working on experiments investigating the coupling of mesoscopic transport to mechanical motion, Andrea took over measurements of nanometer-scale magnets using dynamic cantilever magnetometry (DCM). After successful work investigating the skyrmion phase in MnSi nanowires with Dr. Fei Xue, she went on to collaborate with Dr. Boris Groß on building a new measurement system and investigating further magnetic nanostructures, including ferromagnetic nanotubes and lacunar spinel materials. Having graduated in June 2017, Andrea stayed on as a post-doc in the group until February 2018. She then started work at Innovative Sensor Technology (IST) AG in Ebnat-Kappel, Switzerland in March 2018.

Arne started as a Ph.D. student in our group in July of 2011. He went on to start a his own research project combining cantilever magnetometry with nanometer-scale SQUID sensors. He carried the project through, successfully managing a large collaboration and applying the technique to study magnetization reversal in ferromagnetic nanotubes. After graduation in October 2015, Arne started work as a researcher at the Federal Institute of Metrology (METAS) in Bern, Switzerland. He now works on sensing at the SBB in Bern, Switzerland.

Dennis started as our third Ph.D. student in September of 2009. During his doctoral work, he focused on the application of dynamic cantilever magnetometry to the study of nanometer-scale magnetic structures. He pioneered this technique in our lab and measured a class of interesting nanomagnets, known as ferromagnetic nanotubes. After graduation in September 2014, Dennis stayed on in the group for a short time before starting work teaching science and mathematics in the Basel school system in early 2015.

Michele first arrived in the lab in May 2009 as our second Ph.D. student. He studied the coupling of nanomechanical resonators to controllable quantum systems. First, he made experiments involving the coupling of mesoscopic transport devices to nanomechanical cantilevers. Later he measured the hybrid coupling between the mechanical motion of a bottom-up grown nanowire and the intrinsic quantum dots occuring within the nanowire. After graduation in September 2014, Michele stayed on in the group for a short time before starting work at Sensirion AG in Stäfa, Switzerland in February 2015.

Phani was the lab’s first Ph.D. student starting work in April 2009. During his studies, he applied low-temperature magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM) for the study of nuclear spin fluctuations. After graduation in June 2013, he joined the Jelezko Group at Ulm University as a post doctoral researcher. In late 2017, Phani started his own research group as Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Bhopal, India.

Aurèle Kamber started in our lab as a Nanoscience Masters student in September 2020. He worked on our initial efforts at designing and fabricating a scanning electric field sensor based on a nanowire quantum dot. He completed the project in March 2021.

Mathias Claus joined our lab as a Masters student in May 2020. He worked on the design, fabrication, and application of sensitive nanomechanical sensors of magnetic torque. He completed the project in early 2021.

Daniel joined the group in January 2020 as a visiting Masters student, under the external supervision of Prof. Reinhold Kleiner at the University of Tübingen. He worked on the development of a nanometer-scale SQUID-on-cantilever probe for sensitive magnetic imaging. After graduation in January 2021, Daniel joined the group as a Ph.D. student.

Arsalan joined our group as a Masters student in early October 2019. He carried out a project on cavity opto-mechanics, in which he integrated a nanomechanical oscillator into a high-finesse optical cavity. He completed the project in late summer 2020.

Lukas joined the group in May 2019 working on a short Masters project. He later continued work in the lab for his Masters thesis doing proof-of-principle experiments on using nanowire lasers as sensitive scanning probes. After graduation in May 2020, Lukas joined the group as a Ph.D. student.

Alexander joined the lab as a Master’s student in January 2016. He helped developed the process for producing superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) on sharp tips for scanning probe experiments. He also played an important role in characterizing, testing, and running these ultrasensitive devices.

Kavian joined the lab as a Master’s student in June 2014. For his thesis he developed a process for making top-down Si nanowires and measured the mechanical properties of this promising type of transducer.

Andrea joined the group in September 2011. She worked on experiments studying the coupling of a quantum point contact (QPC) to and off-board cantilever oscillator. After graduation in mid-2012, she joined the Poggio Lab as a Ph.D. student

Benedikt joined the lab as its first Master’s student in April 2011. For his thesis he built a room-temperature magnetic resonance force microscope (MRFM). After graduation in early 2012, he joined the Poggio Lab as a Ph.D. student.